MELBOURNE, Australia – Dominika Cibulkova won the last eight games in a one-hour, 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal rout of No. 11-seeded Simona Halep at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The diminutive Cibulkova, among the shortest women on the WTA tour at 5 feet 3 inches, pounded Halep from the back of the court to progress to her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2009 French Open. It was her second win in five major quarterfinals and served as a harsh lesson for Halep, who was appearing in her first.

“I’m not so tall, but I’m intense on the court,” Cibulkova said, “and I’m powerful.”

Halep only won 10 points in the second set as Cibulkova relentlessly attacked.

No. 20-seeded Cibulkova, who beat Maria Sharapova in three sets in the fourth round, will play the winner of Wednesday’s later quarterfinal between two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Cibulkova said her experience in the quarterfinals was the biggest factor against Halep, as “I was ready today and I knew what to expect … I was perfect.”

Novak Djokovic continued an upsetting trend the day before in the men’s quarterfinals. The three-time defending champion joined Serena Williams and Sharapova as unexpected early departures from the season’s first major with a loss Tuesday night to Stanislas Wawrinka.

Djokovic came into the match with 28 consecutive wins since losing last year’s U.S Open final to Rafael Nadal, and 25 in a row at Melbourne Park since 2010.

But the figure that really mattered was 14 — the number of consecutive matches in which Djokovic had beaten Wawrinka back to 2007, including two five-set wins the last time they met in Grand Slam matches last year at the Australian and U.S Opens.

Djokovic held off Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set in a 5-hour, 2-minute fourth-rounder here last year — the longest Grand Slam match of the season.

All those streaks ended in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 win Tuesday by Wawrinka, Roger Federer’s sometimes Swiss doubles partner, who is into the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Eugenie Bouchard became the first Canadian to make the semifinals of the Australian Open when she beat Ana Ivanovic 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Bouchard next plays No. 4-seeded Li Na on Thursday for a chance to reach the final. Li, the 2011 French Open champion and two-time Australian finalist, beat Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2 in the first of the quarterfinals.

The top half of the men’s draw plays its quarterfinals on Wednesday when top-ranked Rafael Nadal takes on 22-year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Andy Murray plays Federer.